Cold Days of Business

I took this photo randomly one day in one of Asheville's great coffeehouses, Dripolator, just playing around with the settings. However, I ended up liking it and it serves as a reminder of some rough times early on in business. While we are certainly still a very young business the following are some of our early experiences.

Our landlord for our gym mentioned that the heat hadn't been on in the space for over a month but he failed to bring to light the little fact that it had been completely disconnected. We opened the first day we took over the lease. Meaning our landloard was still there the morning of our "Grand Opening" sweeping the floor (there was a woodshop there before us and trust me, I am STILL sweeping) while we moved in our eqipment, hung the white boards and prepared for our first session at 1:00pm. Yes, it was rather ambitious of us. The opening went well considering and a handful of our clients have stuck with us since, but it was FAR from grand.

That 1st week in Feb was the coldest it has been since arriving in Asheville. There were a few mornings in the single digits with highs in the teens! On Monday the 2nd we found out that it would take a few days after submitting paperwork and a deposit before the heat would be on. Argh. It was a miserable time. Here we are trying to welcome people to our new gym and either need to dress in so many layers that I can barely move to demonstrate anything to clients (not to mention I must have looked about 20lbs heavier in all those clothes) or risk standing there body shaking and teetch chattering while taking potential clients through work-outs. It wasn't bad for those showing up to work-out as we just got them moving right away to stay warm, but to be there from 5:30am until 8pm was miserable. We are closed during the day from 10am til 4pm and would go to local coffeehouses to warm up and use their internet, as we were also waiting on internet access in the gym and at our apartment.

The coffee mugs featured in the photo are from a gas station called the "Hot Spot" which we pass everyday on our way to work. They have this offer where you buy one of their $2.99 travel mugs and can get refills for 27 cents. The Hot Spot's little coffee counter even has steamed milk, cinnamon and whipped cream which I doctored my coffee with regularly. I'm pretty sure most places charge 50 cents just to add whip cream to most coffee drinks. Sure, we could have made our own at home but we opted to leave our coffeemaker with our old roommates in NY with the idea that we were going to stop drinking coffee once here in Asheville. Well, when the alarm goes off at 4:40am and being that I grew a strong appreciation for coffee while in chiropractic college it just wasn't happening. Instead, I looked forward to handing over my pocket of change for a deliciously warm beverage during those dark, cold mornings.

Mystery Giveaway

While I frequent various blogs of distant family, friends and fellow CrossFitters I am the worst with updating my own blog. I'm sure there are a limited number of you out there even visiting on a regular basis. Nonetheless, I found the following "Mystery Giveaway" posted on Emily (Mars) Raymond's blog today. If you know the Mars Family AT ALL you know they are all very creative people and the idea of a random mystery gift seemed like fun. This will also force me to get creative as well. The directions are below. Good luck.

The first 5 people to comment on this post will receive something made by me. But there is a catch...Here are the rules:

1. It's my choice what to make... and you won't know what it will be until you get it!

2. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make, but I hope you do!

3. What I create will be just for you.

4. It will be done this year.

The catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same giveaway to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

In the news...

(Image from: http://www.mediabistro.com/)

I was reading the blog "Mark's Daily Apple" this morning and came across this not so fun fact...

"So what are the big winners in the grocery aisles these days? Totino’s frozen pizza, Yoplait yogurt, Progresso soup, and Betty Crocker dessert mixes. (Moment of awkward silence.) Want more news (that probably doesn’t feel like news)? Only two Dow Jones stocks had a positive upturn last year, and McDonalds was one of them. Pardon us, but we don’t know whether to laugh or cry."

It came from his post titled "Recession Diet". To read more visit: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/recession-diet/

In other news living in the south has been quite amusing regarding any "winter weather alerts". The local schools here were cancelled two days in a row (the first day by midnight the night before) without even an inch of accumulation. Now, I can recall a few times from my youth when school was cancelled due to unreasonably cold weather or extremely icy conditions but neither of those situations apply here. People drive 25mph on the highway if there is even a few snowflakes falling from the sky. Corey and I almost choked on our dinners watching the local news Monday night as the weather reporter was "on the scene" discussing that "some areas received upwards of two inches of snow". However, the location where he was had green grass in the background. It was ridiculous! But amusing nonetheless.

Lastly, Stay Active CrossFit is an official CrossFit affiliate and opening weekend is a week from this Saturday. There is still plenty to do, but the website is ready to go for the moment. If you haven't checked it out since yesterday please go visit: http://www.stayactivecrossfit.com/ as she had a bit of a face lift yesterday and is looking much better! Mr. Boggs did a great job with the final title.

Getting Down to Business

Above is our logo for the clinic. Thanks to Corey's buddy, Cody Boggs, for doing such a great job! He should be done with the CF logo by the end of the weekend. The clinic website is close to done and I have been working away on the website for our CrossFit affiliate. Cody is doing the lay out for me this weekend (I'm a computer dummy as you can probably tell by the quality of my blogs) after which I will finish the content and hopefully have it going early next week. I've added the links to the blog here. Presently the link for the gym just takes you to the clinic's page, but it will be it's own site soon!

In other news we are presently in Asheville, NC. We arrived on Monday Dec. 29th and our days have been filled since arriving. The weather is beautiful and the people are great! While we have found a place to live we are not yet moved in and our current residence is a Days Inn about 20 minutes from downtown Asheville. The move-in date was expected to be this coming Monday the 12th, but looks as though there is a complication with getting the water and electric hooked up. Not too much of a problem as they are covering the cost of the hotel, but I'm REALLY wanting to unpack that van already. I'm tired of feeling like a hobo (as Kathy called us haha).

In other news we secured a location for our gym and office combo. It's in a 2000 sq ft studio of the River Arts District in downtown. It's a great space and I'm extremely excited to get started there. We ordered olympic bars and bumper plates last week. We still need to get a few more pairs of olympic gymnastic rings and the rest of our equipment will be homemade or purchased after we have some members secured. We will be making plyo boxes, medicine balls and parallettes and on the shopping list for another day are some C2 rowers and GHD machines.

The last major thing we need to do before opening is the construction of a pull-up station. A few nights ago I was up late searching other CrossFit affliate blogs and checking out their pictures for various different set ups. The problem with the space we have is that we are unable to secure the pull-up system to the ceiling and the floor units are more than doable but not quite as common. Our landlord is going to put us in contact with a good welder as his family is in the construction business. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

I took photos of our move including the packed to the max van, but those will have to wait. The connector cord to upload is hidden somewhere in the depths of the van. And yes I still plan on beginning a blog to include Corey. But the gym site is priority at the moment.

In the meantime here are a few photos from me and Corey in action during kipping pull-ups. While in Ohio we went to the CrossFit affiliate in Barberton to see how they run things and get a work-out in. The best part was that one of the girls I trained at school in NY is from Canton and was able to bring her dad to Barberton and meet us for the work-out. It was a lot of fun and great to see her and her dad getting after it!

Below is a photo from CrossFit Balboa as they have a new pull-up station that would be ideal. Cost and design is going to be our limiting factors. The ladder like bars you see are for plyometric pull-ups which are incredibly fun. Probably as close as I'll ever get to being a gymnast on the uneven bars.

Happy New Year!

Moving on...

First, I apologize for my ridiculously long absence. To summarize the last 5 months of my life...

Corey and I were married October 11th.

Finished up the last section of the national boards and I'm left until Dec 26th to find out the results.
Finished up clinic the last week in November.

Packed all of our belongings (after I gave the majority of my wardrobe and random belongings to Goodwill) plus myself, Corey, two dogs (one 90lb dane mix and one 55lb husky mix) plus a ferret in cage in our hand-me-down 96' minivan and left Seneca Falls.

Went to my in-laws in St. Lawrence county of the actual upstate NY for Thanksgiving.

Graduated Dec. 6th.

Spent more time at the in-laws.

Arrived in Ohio yesterday where we will stay until just after Christmas.

From there....Asheville, NC!

I also have the idea of saving this blogspot for my personal rantings and am mentally in the process of contemplating starting a new blog to update you on family events. Now that I am a married woman and all. haha

If there are any followers of this blog still around look for additional updates and the new blog by the first of the year.

In the meantime above you will find a few wedding photos and a couple from Seneca Falls. One is of the trail which Corey and I walked many times from our place on Lower Lake Rd up to take the tunnel under the Rt 89 to school and/or clinic. The other is the view we had across the street of Lake Cayuga. I can't take credit for that photo either as I stole it from my neighbor Julie's facebook page. Thankfully someone remembered to take some great photos of the beautiful place I called home for just over 3 years.

Oh and I almost forgot...

Here is something I took from one of the blogs I like to visit www.modernforager.com

Here are ten things to remember as you embark on your health journey.
1. Junk food doesn’t exist; there is junk and there is food.
2. Similarly, real food has no nutrition label. Food products have nutrition labels.
3. If a label tells you how healthful the product inside is, it’s probably not. Don’t be deceived by marketing.
4. Sugar is detrimental to your body in more ways than you can count.
5. Organic/natural junk is still junk. Thirty grams of sugar from honey is not more healthful than 30g of sugar from other sources.
6. If you are wondering if you should eat more vegetables, the answer is yes. I don’t care how many you eat, you should probably eat more.
7. Similarly, you should probably sleep more. Turn off the TV and go to bed. Given the quality of most TV programming, you aren’t going to miss anything of importance.
8. Don’t let “I can’t afford organic” keep you from eating enough produce. Organic vegetables are best. However, eating conventional is better than not eating produce at all.
9. You’re human and you will eat something too sugary and too carby. Don’t stress; just get back on the wagon.
10. And finally: health is a lifelong journey, not a quick-fix. Find something you can stick with.

Anybody have any to add?

Happy Holiday!

A little creativity & no excuses...

This image was copied from the Crossfit Santa Cruz website (http://www.crossfitsantacruz.com/) where I saw a new idea for those interested in training, but without adequate resources be it time or funding. I can buy lack of time to go to a gym, but there is no excuse for not enough time around the house to work-out. Anyone who has trained with me can tell you that it takes less than four minutes of any perceivably simple unweighted exercise to leave you sore for days. Plus there is no longer the excuse of lack of funds to purchase any fancy equipment, as it's not needed. There are endless variations of work-outs to do utilizing only your body weight, but with just a little creativity you can add some variety with inexpensive home-made equipment.

Body-weight exercises: squats, pistols (one-legged squats), push-ups, handstand holds with progression to handstand push-ups, bear crawl, burpees, lunges, planks hold both side/front, jumping squats, vertical jumps, jump for distance, etc.

Equipment made easy...

In this photo is a 5 gallon water jug filled with water which is being used for overhead press. I am not aware of the weight of the jug, but that can obviously be altered. Filling milk cartons with water or sand would also work. Note the proper overhead position of the ear being visualized from the side perspective and fully extended shoulder with emphasis on presses all the way through towards the ceiling. This full range allows for proper lateral rotation of the scapula which is often lost due to under use as people age. You would probably be surprised how many twenty-somethings who appear young and healthy struggle to achieve this full range of motion. Try it yourself. Can you get your arms fully extended behind your ears while reaching up for the sky like the guy in this photo? If not, you're setting yourself up for a number of potential injuries in the future. The lack of a full range of motion leads to altered movements within the shoulder girdle (or any joint complex) which can be the cause of that famous "arthritis" term you hear many of your parents and grandparents complain of. Other than "arthritis" you are also at higher risk for damage in the event of trauma to the area if there is already disguised instability.

Other great and inexpensive equipment includes a jump rope, home-made medicine balls by filling old/cheap walmart brand basketball or soccer balls with sand. Just cut about a two inch slit in the top, break the bladder and fill with dry sand. Ensure the sand is DRY before putting it into the ball. Either dry the sand in the over on baking sheets or put it on baking sheets out in the sun and funnel bit by bit. Finish up by duct taping it shut covering the ball in all directions. Athletic tape also works well over the duct tape to prevent the ball from slipping. One you've made a med ball it is great to utilize for deadlifts, cleans, overhead press, med ball toss, wall balls, front squats, thrusters, even overhead squats. Even if the weight isn't as heavy as you may use in a gym, the awkward shape makes it more challenging. (See www.crossfit.com for video examples of above mentioned exercises.)

More great ideas to come.

Work-out of the day: "Jeremy" 21-15-9 65lb overhead squats and burpees time: 8:57

100lb Overhead Squat!

The overhead squat is the ultimate core exercise, the heart of the snatch, and peerless in developing effective athletic movement.
This functional gem trains for efficient transfer of energy from large to small body parts � the essence of sport movement. For this reason it is an indispensable tool for developing speed and power.
The overhead squat also demands and develops functional flexibility, and similarly develops the squat by amplifying and cruelly punishing faults in squat posture, movement, and stability.
The overhead squat is to midline control, stability, and balance what the clean and snatch are to power � unsurpassed.
- From The Overhead Squat CrossFit Journal Issue 36

I know I'm way behind in posting anything. However, I just wanted to post last night's workout.

The WOD was:

Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps

Front squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps

Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Try to increase the load on each of the fifteen sets.

Results:

Overhead squat 65-70-75-85-90-95-100 (10lb p.r.!)-105F

Front squat: 105-110-115-120-125F (120 is my present p.r.)

Back squat: 125-135-140-145-150(another 10lb p.r.!)-155F

More updates later. And maybe one of these days I'll use my digital camera to post some of my own pics.